Well, in retrospect his first year operational model was essentially the same as Deion at CU. I would say Cignetti did it better faster with lower talent at critical skill positions than Deion, but thats for another thread. The turn around is remarkable, regardless, and in further retrospect a goodly portion of his team, like Deion, moved from JMU to IU (which you noted). That along with a lot of other transfers. ND isn't a great team, but they were definitely bigger stronger faster than IU. Which, given the respective recruiting history definitely tracks.
I'll say this Cignetti schemes really well. 11-2 out front should have told you, regardless of competition, IU was absolutely dominant outside of 3 games all year. That's impressive given what he was starting with at IU.
What really surprised me was the number of fans here that heald animosity again IU for their schedule and perceived questionable record.
It will be a very interesting story to watch. Can Cignetti use this season to pull in a decent recruiting class and does IU have the NIL money to pull some top not transfers this off season.
This year ended about like most predicted, and unlike I anticipated.
I don't think ND is as good as some here like to think. I think they were dramatically more talented than IU, that much is clear. The rest is TBD.